Traces of blood in the snow – 40 years after the Glencorse massacre

It has been 40 years since the blood-soaked bodies of three soldiers were found in a heap next to a reservoir in Scotland’s Pentland Hills.

On 17 January 1985, when a farmer came to the scene of a crashed Land Rover following a trail of blood in the snow, he found that the engine was still running.

As the IRA bombing was at its peak, soldiers at Glencorse Barracks in Midlothian were initially believed to be victims of a terrorist attack.

But Tom Walker, then a police inspector, who was one of the first to arrive at the scene, said the evidence immediately led him to a fellow soldier.

He has spoken to BBC Scotland News about his memories of the triple murder on the 40th anniversary of the so-called Glencorse massacre.

The men were discovered next to a small abandoned house at Loganlea Reservoir, about 10 miles south of Edinburgh.

Staff Sergeant Terrence Hosker, 39, and Pte John Thomson, 25, were in uniform. They were found with 56-year-old retired Major David Cunningham.

“When I got there at the back of the house and at the bottom of the stairs there were three bodies lying in a crumpled heap on top of each other,” Mr Walker told BBC Scotland News.

“There was blood and cartridge casings on the snow at the bottom of the stairs.”

They said they were shocked because it looked like a terrorist attack, which would be the first of its kind in Scotland.

But very soon the evidence pointed to The Royal Scots’ long-serving corporal instructor Andrew Walker, who was 30 at the time.

Walker was desperate for money. He knew that Thursday was pay day for junior soldiers training at Glencorse Barracks, and they were paid in cash.

Every Thursday “regularly” a Land Rover and a team of three soldiers traveled to the bank in nearby Penicuik.

No special security arrangements were made and the escorts were unarmed.

Walker took a Sterling sub machine gun from the armory and loaded it with extra ammunition.

Then, hiding the short-barreled weapon under his army coat, he flagged down the patrol Land Rover and asked for a lift back to the barracks.

Being known to the payroll crew, they allowed him to jump into the back of the vehicle.

He had planned to shoot all three of them in the Pentland Hills, but as he abducted them at gunpoint, a scuffle broke out in the back of the vehicle and Staff Sergeant Hosker was shot.

After this, Walker also killed Major Cunningham.

He then forced Pte Thomson to detour to the Pentland Hills and Loganlea Reservoir at Flotterstone.

There he asked the young soldier to help him drag the bodies to the back of the hut.

However, if Pte Thomson thought his help would earn him mercy he was wrong.

Walker would leave no witnesses – Pte Thomson was killed by a shot in the head.

Mr Wood said, “This is a soldier shooting his brothers with weapons. It’s diabolical, really.”

And all this for just £19,000 – enough to buy two cars at a time.

Walker was deep in debt and thought he could make it look like an IRA terrorist attack and robbery.

But their plans went wrong when their vehicle slipped on a slippery road and got stuck in a snowy ditch while driving from the Pentland Hills to the main road.

Mr Wood said, “He probably planned to dump the Land Rover, clear the gun and quickly return to the barracks before he missed it.”

“Anyway, his plans and timetable had gone awry. He was now on foot with a blood-stained uniform, an inconvenient gun that he had to return, and a bag of cash that he had to hide.

“Being skilled in the art of concealment he probably hid for some time before crossing the snowy landscape.”

When it was safe he went back to the barracks but by that time his movements were being investigated.

Shootings were uncommon in the east of Scotland, with multiple shootings still rare.

This was no ordinary crime, Mr Wood said.

“At first glance, these crimes bear some of the hallmarks of a terrorist attack.

“The Provisional IRA were active on mainland Britain, favored military objectives, and were always looking for funding.

“They did not mind committing even a little robbery to achieve their objective.”

However, there were problems with the terrorist theory.

“In the first place the Provisional IRA never carried out any attacks in Scotland – given that Scots as Gaelic cousins He personally declared Scotland ‘off limits’.

“Secondly, it was the IRA’s habit to take responsibility for its own attacks, in order to spread terror while enhancing its prestige.”

No one had claimed responsibility.

Colonel Clive Fairweather, commanding officer of Glencorse Barracks, worked with police officers investigating the murders.

he was an experienced military man Second in command of the SAS operation that attacked the Iranian embassy In London in 1980.

Mr Woods said, “No one knew the army or its soldiers better than Colonel Fairweather, and he immediately noticed the bullet bins in the back of the blood-soaked Land Rover.”

“He knew the types well, they were all 9mm Parabellum cases, a caliber not generally preferred by militants but commonly used by the British Army for all their small arms, pistols and Sterling sub machine guns. Was done.”

Det Ch Supt and Colonel Fairweather began to suspect that the robbery was an “inside job”.

A witness also came forward to say that he had seen four men in a Land Rover outside the bank – and three were in uniform.

“This was important information,” Mr Wood said.

There was also a gun that was taken out of the armory and replaced by Walker in the log that day that matched the bullet that hit Staff Sergeant Hosker in the shoulder.

“Each rifle barrel varies in microscopic detail and leaves different edge marks on the soft lead of the bullet head as it passes down the barrel,” Mr Woods said.

“The firing pins of individual weapons also leave distinctive marks on the detonator cap of the bullet casing.

“This was the best and conclusive evidence.”

Walker returned the gun before being absent without leave for three days.

He eventually returned to the barracks and attempted to falsify it by denying all information, and suggesting that it was the IRA that was responsible but was detained.

He was arrested shortly after when the ballistic results came back from the laboratory.

Walker denied his crimes but a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found him guilty of the murders.

Judge Lord Grieve recommended that he spend at least 30 years in prison because of his “gross disregard for human life”. This was reduced to 27 years on appeal.

Walker was released from prison on compassionate grounds in 2011, two years after a stroke left him severely disabled.

He died of respiratory infection and suspected cancer in a care home in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire in 2021, aged 67.

Mr Wood said: “Andrew Walker was a ruthless killer who set out to rob despite knowing that to escape he would have to kill his three accomplices.”

“I suspect he was involved in some extremely brutal incidents in Northern Ireland because what he did was done in a ruthless manner.”

He did not think Walker was mentally ill, he was “just an evil man”.

“He had absolutely no sympathy for human suffering and that’s what makes me wonder what he had to face at the beginning of his military service.”

He said his plan of the crime was simple and audacious but was made with very little thought.

Mr Woods said, like many criminals, his plan of attack was much better planned than his escape.

He said, “As a military man he should have known that no plan ever keeps in touch with reality, yet when the first thing went wrong he had no alternative plan.”

“The simple act of slipping on an icy road derailed his ruthless enterprise.”